State laying off 85 workers

Wednesday

State budget cuts will put 85 state workers out of a job Sunday, the Blagojevich administration confirmed Wednesday.

State budget cuts will put 85 state workers out of a job Sunday, the Blagojevich administration confirmed Wednesday.

Originally, more than 320 workers were supposed to be laid off in several state agencies at the end of November, including those affected by the closings of two-dozen state parks and historic sites.

Lawmakers stepped in to spare the layoffs and closings, but late last week the governor said he could not fully approve restoring the money to prevent those cuts because of slumping state revenues and other shortfalls.

So as of Sunday, 48 workers will be laid off at the Department of Human Services, 13 workers will be let go from the Department of Natural Resources and 24 workers will be laid off at the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, Blagojevich spokeswoman Marcelyn Love said Wednesday.

No workers will be laid off from the Department of Children and Family Services, which originally was supposed to take the biggest hit with 179 layoffs.

Love said nearly 400 vacant jobs in state government were offered to employees affected by the cuts and some workers did take other jobs rather than being laid off.

"There are a variety of circumstances which have allowed a smaller number of people to be affected, which we're certainly happy about that and tried to minimalize the effects as much as possible," Love said.

State Capitol Bureau

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